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Art Davis and His Rhythm Riders
A contemporary Hominy newspaper names the Rhythm Riders as a dance orchestra heard daily over Tulsa station KTUL.
Read the record →Jazz, dance & territory bands
Musicians and ensembles connected through performance, travel, and shared work.
The collection brings together ensemble histories, Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame research, and source records naming performers, leaders, and instruments. These materials offer different views of musical work: a group account, an individual career, or a photograph of a particular occasion.
Recognition dates and performance dates answer different questions. The pages preserve the source context so an induction year is not mistaken for the beginning of a musical career.
Start with these records
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Claude Thomas Orchestra
The Oklahoma Eagle identifies the orchestra as the music provider for a 1953 Founders' Day Ball in Muskogee.
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Everett Mitchell's Orchestra
A contemporary Radio Wave listing documents the orchestra at a Tulsa Coliseum radio jamboree and dance and in a KVOO program schedule.
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Frank Gordon and His Tulsa Club Orchestra
A contemporary article documents an orchestra organized from unemployed Tulsa musicians that received a Tulsa Club engagement and toured regional one-night stands.
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Jokers Y-ilde
Period newspaper and Senate sources identify the band at Oklahoma events; archival material describes a nine-piece Oklahoma soul-funk group with Gold Spill recordings.
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Pressley and his Notes of Lawton
The Oklahoma Eagle identifies Pressley and his Notes of Lawton as the band scheduled for a Tulsa Labor Day dance and previously well received at a formal.
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Starlight Concert Band and Jazz Orchestra
Starlight documents free summer concerts since 1947 and current concert-band and jazz-orchestra branches employing professional musicians.
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Uptown Syndicate
OHS, period OU newspaper, and blues-history sources document a large Oklahoma funk and soul band formed in the OU orbit with regional touring and recordings.
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Archive photograph
"Governors Club".
Photograph taken for a story in the Oklahoma Journal newspaper. Caption: "The Leslie Sheffield Trio; left to right, Marvin Williams, bass player; Leslie Sheffield, pianist; Les Sheffield Jr., drummer." Headline: Governors Club.
Read the record →The experiences behind the evidence
Future interviews will connect these sources with the recollections of people who made music.
Explore the oral-history project →